My friends will tell you that I used a Walkman at the NYSC Astoria as late as 2006. I always thought it would be a great conversation starter with some cute boy who was also technologically impaired. Yeah, that didn’t work.

I have never been one to get the newest gadget, because I like for the kinks to be worked out and the price to drop. But, this year my mother, a voracious reader with nowhere left to put her books, deserves a real birthday gift. On April 3rd,the first generation of the iPad will be delivered to a suburban NY home hot off the press. A technological first for said suburban home. Steve Jobs will be so proud.

PS Apologies to a friend who has stake in the Kindle–I did try to push their product as better on the reader’s eyes, but my mother fell for Apple’s fancy footwork. Plus, she’s tired of my dad hogging the email and the newspaper. Can you blame her?